Paint cans are made out of metal or plastic and are commonly used to hold paint products. The existing types of one quart and one-gallon paint cans are made out of plastic or metal, and contain more than three parts, and require various machine and hand labor operations to manufacture. The existing metal or plastic can covers require opening tools, and require a press to close the cover, which is commonly done with the use of a hammer. There is also noise when closing the cover with a hammer. Both operations are time consuming, and risk hand/wrist strain. When closing the cover with a hammer, any paint left-over inside the circular groove of the can will splash. Also, paint commonly runs down the outside of the can and thus would rarely be cleaned off.
One approach to eliminating this problem has been to provide an inner lip on the bucket, so that excess paint wiped against the tip drips back into the bucket and not on the floor. Examples of such buckets include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,629 to Lucey, which has a lip extending outward, with a configuration said to allow multiple buckets to be stacked. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,456 to Cousar shows a modular bucket with space for a brush to rest. U.S. Pat. No. 1,696,240 to Kircher, Jr. shows a metal bucket having a lip brace extending radially between its rim and lip; the brace is generally coplanar to the rim. Neither of the above patents describe a loop brace attached below to the rim to a sidewall of a paint bucket, with the brace forming a trough for stowage of applicator brush or rollers, nor is such a bucket described that is optionally stackable for retail display.
Other art of interest are U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,420 to Edwards, U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,226 to Weinert, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,428,977 to Fera with a Dripless Paint Bucket.
Other problems with metal can covers can arise after a short time; the cans and their covers start to rust. Many times, the cover is not completely sealed. In those situations, the paint can become dry, useless and wasteful. Also, it creates an environmental problem. The plastic paint cans basically have the same problems as the metal ones. Some plastic paint cans also have metal parts. This creates a dual problem drying paint and rusting metal parts.
Both types of paint cans are very hard to be completely cleaned. Most painters do not take the time to clean inside and the circular cover groove at the top.
As is known, manufacturers produce one quart and one-gallon paint cans, metal or plastic, and store them in boxes. When shipping these cans by placing them in boxes, there is a considerable amount of wasted space resulting in excess costs.